Best President of 20th Century

David Halberstam, "The Fifties," I believe.

 

Very Good to Great Presidents of the 20th Century: Coolidge, FDR, Truman, Reagan.
Good: Clinton, Bush 41, Teddy, Eisenhower.
Average: Taft, Ford, McKinley, JFK.
Below Average: Harding, Hoover.
It's A Miracle We Survived People This Bad: Wilson, LBJ, Nixon, Carter.

 

LBJ because of Vietnam? Otherwise, I don't think he belongs anywhere near that company.

 

Very Good to Great Presidents of the 20th Century: FDR, Truman, TR, LBJ.
Good: Reagan, Clinton, Eisenhower, Coolidge
Average: Taft, McKinley, JFK, Wilson, Bush
Below Average: Harding, Hoover, Ford
It's A Miracle We Survived People This Bad: Nixon, Carter.

 

That book certainly hints at that. In the relevant passages, Halberstam drew on Richard Klugar's (1975) Simple Justice: The History of Brown vs. the Board of Education & Black America's Struggle for Equality (which I've never read).

On the other hand, I am not sure to what degree the Supremes would have been amenable to persuasion. After all, for all of Ike's alleged campaigning, it was a unanimous decision.

 

I know the source, but if anyone watched any of the Oliver Stone history series on Showtime, the one president he held in the most contempt was Truman.

It was just brutal.

So, for some, that might elevate Truman even higher but if you had to pick the most accidental President in history, given how he got there, Truman laps Ford by miles.

 

Not sure about that. Several presidents have taken office because their predecessor died but Ford's the only one to take office because his boss resigned.

 

"(C)rucified on a cross" is redundantly redundant.

I thought they taught you that at the Lee Atwater Finishing School.

 

AND, of course, he wasn't even elected VP.

 

For those who consider Nixon the ultimate political animal: There were people disappointed at the time that Nixon didn't nominate Edward Brooke to succeed Agnew. Nixon could have put Congress in the position of having to confirm Brooke, then not being able to pull the trigger on impeachment.

 

I believe the correct term is "repetitively redundant."